Southern Wayne knocks Spring Creek in 6 innings

SEVEN SPRINGS -- Coming off back-to-back losses to Wilmington Hoggard earlier in the week, Southern Wayne found its swagger again Friday afternoon county rival Spring Creek.

The Saints rolled over the Gators 11-1 in six innings.

Playing without head coach Trey McKee due to an ejection earlier in the week, the Southern Wayne offense made a statement for interim coach Rick Grantham.

The Saints posted five runs in the second inning when Breyon Johnson was hit by a pitch and Jamison Dove followed with an RBI double. Taylor Gainey singled, Ashton Cox reached on an error and Keith Jones singled. Cody Davis added an RBI base hit and Tyler Gainey ripped a sacrifice fly to cap the inning.

"I thought we did a good job of squaring up some balls in that second inning which gave us some confidence," said Grantham. "With Duane Gurganus on the mound, I knew it would be a challenge for our guys and we came ready to play."

Trailing 6-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Gators (2-3 overall) got on the scoreboard.

Gurganus led off the inning with a single and raced to second when the ball got loose in the outfield. Chris Nichols reached on a fielder's choice and Eric Evans tallied an RBI single. A double play ended the rally with just one run on the board and the Saints (4-3) wasted no time with a quick answer.

Taylor Gainey scored on an error in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 7-1. Three additional Gator errors in the sixth inning led to the 11-1 final.

"We simply made too many mistakes tonight," said Spring Creek head coach Heath Whitfield. "It doesn't matter who we play, we can not make errors in the field and on the bases if we want to have a chance to win."

Gurganus, Evans, Chris Boseman and Hunter Barnette each tallied one hit for the Gators.

Spring Creek travels to Greene Central on Wednesday.

Zach Grantham paced the Saints offense with two doubles and an RBI. Tyler Gainey and Keith Jones added two hits apiece. Starting pitcher Jeremy Taylor recorded four strikeouts in four innings, and earned the mound win.

Southern Wayne begins Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference play at home Tuesday against Triton.